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MASSEY in and around Chester.
MASSEY in Denbighshire and Flintshire
The MASSEY name
Other MASSEY researchers.
MASSEY in place names (UK)

MASSEY in and around Chester.
With other researchers, I have a lot of information on various MASSEY families in and around Chester (but not much from the larger county except for the databank mentioned below). Email me for more detail.

MASSEY in Denbighshire & Flintshire, Wales.
In the course of my researches, I have discovered many references to MASSEY/MASSIE and other variations, and am building them into families as far as possible:  the list is long and on an old DOS program, which I have so far been unable to convert, but if you have or would like any information, Email me.  All I ask is details of your line to enhance the record.
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The MASSEY Name.

(See new items 7 & 8, below).

There are several theories of the origins of the name, some having certain common features:  the most plausible are:

1. English (Norman) and French.   Habitation name from any of various places in Northern France which get their names from Gallo-Roman personal name of Maccius plus the local suffix- acum
(Dictionary of Surnames, P. Hanks & F. Hodges, OUP)

2. A great Cheshire family of whom from their numerousness the proverb, however uncomplimentary, runs "As many Masseys as asses."
The founder of the family in England was Harmon Massie, a Norman, who accompanied the Conqueror and acquired Dunham in Cheshire which has from that circumstance ever since borne the suffix of Massey.  From what part of Normandy that personage came is not known, but there are several places in the province from which, with equal claims to probability the name might reasonably be deduced: viz Mace-sur-Orme near Alencon: Macei in the arrondissement of Avranches: Marcei, in that part of Argantan, and Marcei on the Broise near the town of Avranches, the seat of an ancient Barony.
(A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom, ed M.A. Lower, pub John Russell Smith, London, 1860.

3. From Macy near Avranches.  Name given to Dunham Massey.
(They Came with The Conqueror, L.G.Pine, pub Evans, London)

4. French, diminutive of Matthew. But often local from various places in France: Massy ? "hill range" OF massif, Seine Maritime, La Ferte Mace (=Matthew), Orne, Marcy the (? connected with MARCIAGE, the seignorial right to take every three years the produce of natural crops, timber Old French), Manche.  Macey, Manche.  Mace-sur-Orme, Orne. Hamo de Masci who in 1081 held Dunham Massey, Cheshire was from one of these Normandy places - Massey is a surname of Cheshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire.(Penguin Dictionary of Surnames)

5. A recent correspondent believed the name to come from the Channel Islands: as they were part of Normandy for several centuries, this is another posible link.

6. And  a recent discovery:  there is a Stondon Massey in Essex:  one Serlo Marcy or Marci held Marks Hall in Margaret Roding in 1086, and it was probably he who decided to build Stondon Church.

7. A recent Channel 4 TV programme ("Adventure in English") quoted the influence of French merchants who began to move to England in the reign of Henry IV (1399-1415): could some of them have been Masseys?

8. Very recently, a correspondent has written that her Massey ancestors were Huguenots: there was much migration by them because of religious persecution in the 1600s to England, and direct to the American colonies (later USA) in the 1700s.

My Comments:

A few people allow themselves to jump to the conclusion that they must be desended from Harmon/Hamo de Masci.  But a few moments thought will show that this is not necessarily correct.

Unless Hamo was the first person ever to bear the surname, there were other families who either stayed behind in Normandy in 1066, and perhaps came later to England, came over with Hamo and William The Conqueror and settled elsewhere, came over later in peacetime to trade, settle, etc,  or emigrated direct to USA.   They would  have had children who started other family lines in Cheshire or elsewhere.

5 and 6 above show that there were other Massey ancestors and in all probability that there were more families of the same name in other places in Normandy, who crossed the Channel at various dates.   It is possible that more than one of the above histories is correct, giving alternative long term origins of the name.

Do not forget also, that although Harmon may have been a knight or nobleman, there may well have been some of the pbi (ask any old soldier what that means) with the name, who may have settled on or near Harmon's lands in less exalted positions.

I remember in the 1980s staying at St Lo, Normandy, and eating at a Restaurant run by a M.Massé: I bitterly regret not straining my limited French to ask some questions.  So there are still some of our kinsmen (should I say kinspersons) in France.

Email me if you have anything new
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Other MASSEY researchers and references.
I have built up a long list of other researchers, and references which seemed near misses for my own lines: Email me to see if I have anything to save you some work!
I am just transferring the information on researchers from a straight list to a database, and should then be able to sort by first name, date, area, country, etc.   Until now, I have restricted my list to near misses (geographically), but I am hoping to extend to include any researcher who contacts me about MASSEYS in the UK only:  let me have your interests in the following format (leaving blanks if necessary) if you would like to be included:  at present there are 82.

First name(s)of earliest MASSEY etc person being researched:
Surname if not spelt MASSEY:
age:
date
earliest event (not only b-m-d, but honours, sports success, conviction, transportation, emigration, etc):
place (or name of team, ship, prison, etc):
county/state:
country:
other information:
your name and preferred address/Email address.
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MASSEY in place names
I have been finding several place names in the UK which include MASSEY, MASSIE or other variation:  here are some of them, with a short history if I know it:  if you can add more Email me.
Dunham Massey, Cheshire: this is the classic everybody knows, the settling place of Hamon de Masci after the Norman Conquest.
Massey Green, Thelwall, Cheshire: a recent Email message asked about this, the first I had heard of it: does anyone know any more?
Mazy Green, Cheshire (near Mobberley): is this stretching the connection ?
Saughall Massie on The Wirral, Cheshire: betweenMoreton, Hoylake, and Greasby: to think when I did my square-bashing at West Kirby, I was only a few miles away, and did not know it !
Stondon Massey, Essex: Serlo Marci's settlement, also after the Conquest, see above

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Last Updated 6 July 2001
Contact Donald Massey at: [email protected] (new address)